Evaluating the Resiliency of Industrial Internet of Things Process Control Using Protocol Agnostic Attacks

Improving and defending our nation\u27s critical infrastructure has been a challenge for quite some time. A malfunctioning or stoppage of any one of these systems could result in hazardous conditions on its supporting populace leading to widespread damage, injury, and even death. The protection of such systems has been mandated by the Office of the President of the United States of America in Presidential Policy Directive Order 21. Current research now focuses on securing and improving the management and efficiency of Industrial Control Systems (ICS). IIoT promises a solution in enhancement of efficiency in ICS. However, the presence of IIoT can be a security concern, forcing ICS processes to rely on network based devices for process management. In this research, the attack surface of a testbed is evaluated using protocol-agnostic attacks and the SANS ICS Cyber Kill Chain. This highlights the widening of ICS attack surface due to reliance on IIoT, but also provides a solution which demonstrates one technique an ICS can use to securely rely on IIoT

Conceptual and basic design of a stirling engine prototype for electrical power generation using solar energy

The research consisted in a conceptual and basic design of a prototype Stirling engine with the purpose of taking advantage of the solar radiation to produce electric energy. The work began with a bibliography review covering aspects as history, basic functioning, design configurations, applications and analysis methods, just to continue with the conceptual design, where the prototype specifications were determined. Finally, a basic dimensioning of the important components as heat exchangers (heater, cooler, and regenerator), piston, displacer and solar collector was elaborated. The principal conclusions were that the different analysis methods had dissimilitude among their results; in this sense, a construction of the prototype is necessary for the understanding of the complex phenomena occurring inside the engin

The polarized expression of Na+,K+-ATPase in epithelia depends on the association between beta-subunits located in neighboring cells

The polarized distribution of Na+,K+-ATPase plays a paramount physiological role, because either directly or through coupling with co- and countertransporters, it is responsible for the net movement of, for example, glucose, amino acids, Ca2+, K+, Cl-, and CO3H- across the whole epithelium. We report here that the beta-subunit is a key factor in the polarized distribution of this enzyme. 1) Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells (epithelial from dog kidney) express the Na+,K+-ATPase over the lateral side, but not on the basal and apical domains, as if the contact with a neighboring cell were crucial for the specific membrane location of this enzyme. 2) MDCK cells cocultured with other epithelial types (derived from human, cat, dog, pig, monkey, rabbit, mouse, hamster, and rat) express the enzyme in all (100%) homotypic MDCK/MDCK borders but rarely in heterotypic ones. 3) Although MDCK cells never express Na+,K+-ATPase at contacts with Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, they do when CHO cells are transfected with beta(1)-subunit from the dog kidney (CHO-beta). 4) This may be attributed to the adhesive property of the beta(1)-subunit, because an aggregation assay using CHO (mock-transfected) and CHO-beta cells shows that the expression of dog beta(1)-subunit in the plasma membrane does increase adhesiveness. 5) This adhesiveness does not involve adherens or tight junctions. 6) Transfection of beta(1)-subunit forces CHO-beta cells to coexpress endogenous a-subunit. Together, our results indicate that MDCK cells express Na+,K+-ATPase at a given border provided the contacting cell expresses the dog P,-subunit. The cell-cell interaction thus established would suffice to account for the polarized expression and positioning of Na+,K+-ATPase in epithelial cells

The Role of Solar Wind Hydrogen in Space Weathering: Insights from Laboratory-Irradiated Northwest Africa 12008

Micrometeoroid impacts, solar wind plasma interactions, and regolith gardening drive the complicated and nuanced mechanism of space weathering (or optical maturation); a process by which a materials optical properties are changed as a result of chemical and physical alterations at the surface of grains on airless bodies. Reddened slopes, attenuated absorption bands, and an overall reduction in albedo in the visible and near-IR wavelength ranges are primarily the result of native iron nanoparticle (npFe0) production within glassy rims that form from sputtering and vaporization. The sizes and abundance of these particles provide information about the relative surface exposure age of a particular grain. In addition, many studies have indicated that composition greatly affects the rate at which optical maturation occurs. Despite our understanding of how npFe0 affects optical signatures, the relative roles of micrometeoroid bombardment and solar wind interactions remains undetermined. To simulate the early effects of weathering by the solar wind and to determine thresholds for optical change with respect to a given mineral phase, we irradiated a fine-grained lunar basalt with 1 keV H+ to a fluence of 6.4 x 1016 H+ per sq.cm. Surface alterations within four phases have been evaluated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We found that for a given fluence of H+, the extent of damage acquired by each grain was dependent on its composition. No npFe(0) was produced in any of the phases evaluated in this study. These results are consistent with many previous studies conducted using ions of similar energy, but they also provide valuable information about the onset of space weathering and the role of the solar wind during the early stages of optical maturation

Inspection of Historic Steel Bridges Using Ultrasonic Phased Array

The use of ultrasonic phased array (UPA) technology for inspection of the trunnion bearing pin of the 100-year old Salmon Bay Bascule Bridge is the focus of this research. To thoroughly investigate the bearing pin, two main objectives are addressed: the development of a UPA system, including the design of a case that uses a Poly Methyl Meth Acrylate (PMMA) material to house the transducer, and the implementation of the system in the field to test the feasibility of the UPA system and its application as a nondestructive testing unit. Two different testing settings are carried out in this research. The first study is performed in a lab-based setting on a mock-up model pin. This model is used as a reference to provide the calibration of the UPA system using the exterior edge, two keyholes, and three diagonal interior grease holes. The second study is performed in a field-based setting on the authentic trunnion bearing pin taken out of service from the Salmon Bay Bridge in Seattle, Washington, currently residing at the Riverside Campus. This pin has three similar diagonal holes, keyholes, and unknown internal defects. Realtime measurements using the UPA system is used to identify the exterior surfaces and the keyholes of the original pin. The results of the inspection of the pins using the UPA system indicate the accuracy of the real-time data taken from the probe measurements. It was limited to seeing perpendicular defects and exterior sides, and could not identify the diagonal grease hole within both pin parts. It did, however, identify the keyholes, and was later verified by visual inspection once the sleeves were removed. The original pin showed no internal defects. For future research in nondestructive testing used in historic trunnion pins, it is recommended to combine this technology with an automatic system that allows the reduction of human interaction with the inspection. A membrane-like surface adaptable to rough faces, along with a constant flow of water between the wedge and surface, would facilitate the need to remove the PMMA case out of the pin to re-apply couplant for inspections. Finally, a modified angled wedge could also be applied within the PMMA case to search for different angled cracking

Measuring embodiment: A review of methods for prosthetic devices

The development of neural interfaces to provide improved control and somatosensory feedback from prosthetic limbs has initiated a new ability to probe the various dimensions of embodiment. Scientists in the field of neuroprosthetics require dependable measures of ownership, body representation, and agency to quantify the sense of embodiment felt by patients for their prosthetic limbs. These measures are critical to perform generalizable experiments and compare the utility of the new technologies being developed. Here, we review outcome measures used in the literature to evaluate the senses of ownership, body-representation, and agency. We categorize these existing measures based on the fundamental psychometric property measured and whether it is a behavioral or physiological measure. We present arguments for the efficacy and pitfalls of each measure to guide better experimental designs and future outcome measure development. The purpose of this review is to aid prosthesis researchers and technology developers in understanding the concept of embodiment and selecting metrics to assess embodiment in their research. Advances in the ability to measure the embodiment of prosthetic devices have far-reaching implications in the improvement of prosthetic limbs as well as promoting a broader understanding of ourselves as embodied agents

Vacuum Polarization and Dynamical Chiral Symmetry Breaking: Phase Diagram of QED with Four-Fermion Contact Interaction

We study chiral symmetry breaking for fundamental charged fermions coupled electromagnetically to photons with the inclusion of four-fermion contact self-interaction term. We employ multiplicatively renormalizable models for the photon dressing function and the electron-photon vertex which minimally ensures mass anomalous dimension = 1. Vacuum polarization screens the interaction strength. Consequently, the pattern of dynamical mass generation for fermions is characterized by a critical number of massless fermion flavors above which chiral symmetry is restored. This effect is in diametrical opposition to the existence of criticality for the minimum interaction strength necessary to break chiral symmetry dynamically. The presence of virtual fermions dictates the nature of phase transition. Miransky scaling laws for the electromagnetic interaction strength and the four-fermion coupling, observed for quenched QED, are replaced by a mean-field power law behavior corresponding to a second order phase transition. These results are derived analytically by employing the bifurcation analysis, and are later confirmed numerically by solving the original non-linearized gap equation. A three dimensional critical surface is drawn to clearly depict the interplay of the relative strengths of interactions and number of flavors to separate the two phases. We also compute the beta-function and observe that it has ultraviolet fixed point. The power law part of the momentum dependence, describing the mass function, reproduces the quenched limit trivially. We also comment on the continuum limit and the triviality of QED.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure